From different stuff that I've been taking pictures of.
















-Rafe

Tags: accident, food photography, images, macro

Today's blog post will combine an observation about people observing snow in Seattle,  as well as photography.  The two are not related (other than the fact that there was plenty of snow in Seattle today),  but will be mixed in with each other.  Let's see how that works.



I've now lived in Seattle for more than 10 years.  During this time I've seen winters with no snow,  and some with a little bit of snow, and some,  like today,  with a lot of snow.  Regardless of how much snow there is,  the conversations about the snow with others who live in Seattle ends up being remarkably similar.  The all go about like this:



Person A:  Wow,  it snows a tiny little bit in Seattle and the entire city freaks out.  I'm from (somewhere in the midwest),  and we knew how to drive on snow.
Person B: Yeah,  I'm from (some other midwest location)  and if it snowed there as little as it's snowing here,  no one would think anything of it.  Here,  everyone cancels school,  the malls shut early,  and there are crashes all over on the highway.



After this,  the conversation turns into a long list of reasons why person A and person B have personally chosen to stay home that day.  They consist of:



1)  All the other drivers have no idea how to drive in the snow.  I'm not afraid of the snow,  I'm afraid of them.
2)  Well,  there really are a lot of hills in Seattle,  there aren't so many hills in (favorite midwestern town)
3)  Yeah,  and Seattle only has two snowplows,  one of which is used to carve a path from the mayor's house to City Hall
4)  And the other one is used to pull the first one out of a snowbank in case it slides into one.
5)  Right,  and Seattle doesn't salt its streets
6) And the temperature hovers around freezing,  so the snow keeps on melting and refreezing,  making it ice on the streets,  not just snow,  which is way more dangerous
7)  And all those other drivers that have no idea how to drive on snow.  (This one always gets returned to)



  The thing is,  I realized today,  I've never heard anyone from Seattle engage in this particular discussion.  Instead,  it's always the "I can drive in snow because I'm from the midwest and I'm awesome" people who come up with millions of excuses for not driving in the snow.  Everyone else just sucks it up and drives in it,  usually doing fairly well for themselves.  The people who have the most excuses for not driving in the snow,  are,  I'm convinced,  the ones who do the worst in it.

-Rafe



PS.  What, me?  No.  I walked to work today same as I always do.  I wouldn't drive in this stuff.  There are hills,  and Seattle doesn't salt it's streets,  and look at all those other drivers out there who have no idea how to drive in it.  I'm not afraid of the snow,  I'm afraid of everyone else who has no idea of how to drive in this.

PPS.  The images are,  in order:
1) Bicycle downtown
2) Semi stranded after having taken out a light pole
3) The Smith Tower,  from the observation deck of the Columbia Tower
4) Interstate 5,  from the observation deck of the Columbia Tower
5) Seattle Metro Bus,  with hole ripped in the side,  and the bus driver looking on.
6) A few remaining fall leaves in the International District

-Rafe

Tags: accident, bicyle, images, smith tower, snow

So this morning one of my dear readers asked,  "why were you drunk last night?"

I wasn't really drunk so much as I was tipsy,  but LJ doesn't have "tipsy" in it's mood drop-down list,  and I was too tipsy to remember that I could also type my own mood in the free form box provided.

Anyway,  I was tipsy last night because the bar I was in for dinner gave me free drinks.  Here's what happened:

I went to Two Bells last night for dinner with the building manager of my condo.  As we were walking up,  we heard this crunching noise,  and I looked and saw that a car was trying to pull out of a parallel parking spot,  and as it did so,  sideswiped a VW minivan.  Rather than pull back,  try again and leave without damage,  instead the driver gunned it,  and shot off down the road.  I ran forward enough to get the license plate,  and at that time the bartender came running out with a notepad and pencil and tried to write it down.  He was too late,  but I saw the number clearly,  and related it to him.  He called the cops,  the owner of the minivan showed up a bit later,  and I had a delicious turkey sandwich.

The bartender was pretty pissed that anyone would do such a stupid thing,  and he was quite grateful that I had gotten the license plate.  It was later revealed that the police found the registration of that car belonging to someone who lives elsewhere in Seattle,  so they'll likely get the owner, which is good news.

For the trouble of me sticking around and talking to the police and the owner of the minivan,  I got free beer.  which I took advantage of,  on top of the beers I had already paid for,  and by the time I got home (we were on foot),  I was feeling nice and warm and tipsy

but not drunk.  :)

-Rafe

Tags: accident, beer
Current Location: Work
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Xen Cuts (Disk 3) - Ninja Tune (Enter the Augmenter)

This evening I was a witness to two unusual events.

The first was an accident.  I was traveling north on I-5,  on the express lanes,  just south of the 85th St. Overpass.  The road there curves gently to the right,  and there are three lanes.  I was in the far right lane when I noticed ahead of me and to the left,  a car that was angling towards the left.  I don't know if it was originally in the middle lane,  I noticed it right about the time that if it were merging into the far left lane that it should have straightened out.  It didn't straighten out,  instead it continued into the shoulder lane,  and then crashed at a fairly high speed - I'm guessing 65 or so mph - into the jersey barriers.  The hood flew up a bit,  and the car continued to roll for a while before coming to a halt in the shoulder lane.

I stopped my car and called 911.  While I was on the phone another car stopped behind me,  people got out and ran over to the crashed car,  and I believe pulled someone from the vehicle and led them back over to their car.  I'm not entirely sure of this because I was concentrating on speaking with the 911 operator,  and was further distracted by the fact that the car behind me was quite upset that I had stopped my car on the express lanes,  and was honking at me to continue moving.  (He eventually pulled out into traffic and left the scene)

Anyway.  the 911 person got the info from me,  thanked me,  and then I asked her if I needed to stay at the site of the collision, she said no,  that they would call me if they had further questions for me.

Here's the oddest part:  I saw no brake lights before the car hit the jersey barriers. 

My guess is that the driver fell asleep.   I thought perhaps he had a heart attack first,  but if that were the case,  the people in the other car would have been less likely to pull him from his own car and bring him back to theirs.  I also thought that perhaps it was a blown tire,  but the car that crashed didn't appear at all to be waving around before it hit the barriers,  and if it had,  most people would have instantly hit the brakes while struggling to keep their car under control.  None of that seemed evident to me.

The police have not called me back,  I'm guessing they won't.

That put an unusual mood on the evening.  It's one thing to see an accident,  it's quite another to see a car that is otherwise perfectly under control slam into a concrete barrier with no explanation. 

The second thing I saw tonight was not near so unsettling.  I went to an event called "Freak Skate" that my friend Amare put on.  She rented out a roller skating rink in Lynnwood,  and invited a lot of people via LiveJournal.  There at least 300 people there I'm guessing,  and most of us were dressed up in one way or another.  She also got a Seattle DJ (DJ Eternal Darkness) to spin tunes,  and everyone there had a great time.  Hooray to Amare for putting on such a cool event!

Now because if the time change I need to get to bed. 

-Rafe

-Rafe

Tags: accident, collision, freak skate
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: unsettled
Current Music: Richard Souther - Innermission